News

Turkey Aspires to Attract More than 36 Million Tourists this Year

Tourism in Turkey is booming in parallel with economic growth. The increase in the number of tourists coming to Turkey has also increased economic returns. Turkey’s presence in the warmer region, Turkey’s marine tourism is more prosperous than other countries due to the presence of the shores of the Aegean Sea And west of Marmara.

Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kortulmush announced that his country aims to attract 36 million foreign tourists during the current year 2018, with revenues of 34 billion dollars. “We are looking at China, India, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia as new tourist markets that can be used,” he said.

“The population of these six countries is half the world’s population, and Turkey has the elements of summer, winter and natural tourism,” Kurtholm said. Pointing out that Turkey received last year 32.4 million tourists, and revenues from tourism about 26 billion dollars, pointing out that last year saw an increase in the number of tourists to Turkey by 17 percent compared to 2016.

According to Kurtulmusch, Russian tourists topped the list of foreign tourists to Turkey with 5 million tourists, followed by the Germans with 3.5 million tourists.
In the same context, the Federation of operators and workers in the Turkish hotel sector that Turkey received in 2017 more than 2.5 million Iranian tourists. A statement issued by the Union, issued yesterday: Turkey has become a major destination for Iranian tourists, despite some difficulties that have faced relations between the two countries in the last two years.
The number of Iranians who visited Turkey in 2016 reached 665,000, and that number rose by 2017 to reach 2 million 501 thousand.

Data from the Directorate General of Airports Operations in Turkey showed that the number of passengers using internal and external lines at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport between 2012 and 2017 reached 338,559,960 passengers and that the number of passengers using Ataturk Airport Has seen a steady rise in recent years.
The number of passengers using the airport in 2012, about 45 million and 91 thousand and 962, up from 37 million and 394 thousand and 694 in 2011.
In 2013, Ataturk Airport continued to receive more passengers, reaching 51 million 297,790 passengers, then 56 million and 695,000 in 2014. The number of passengers using Ataturk Airport increased to 61 million, 332,124 passengers by 2015, To 60 million and 415 thousand and 470 passengers in 2016.
During the last year 2017, the number of passengers through Ataturk Airport returned to 63 million, 727,448 passengers. During the last decade, between 2007 and 2017, the number of passengers using Ataturk Airport reached 489,660,722 passengers.
Turkish Transport, Communications and Maritime Transport Minister Ahmad Arslan confirmed that Istanbul’s third airport will open on Oct. 29 and that 80 per cent of the construction work at the airport, which Turkey says will be one of the largest airports in Turkey, the world.

Istanbul’s third airport is one of Turkey’s biggest projects, including the opening of a third suspension bridge over the Bosphorus in 2016 and plans to build a huge canal in Istanbul that will turn a large part of the city into an island.
Arslan said in remarks yesterday: that the upcoming flights to Istanbul will go to the new airport instead of Ataturk airport, which is currently operating, as soon as it opens. He pointed out that the new airport can accommodate 114 aircraft at the same time, and will employ 225 thousand employees upon completion.
He said about $ 10.2 billion had been invested in the airport project, which is expected to generate about $ 22 billion in 25 years before VAT.